Deploy central forces at Mullaperiyar: Jaya to PM

Sunday, May 27, 2012: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to deploy central forces to protect the Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala.
In a letter to Singh, she warned that if the Kerala government persisted with its “recalcitrant” attitude and if the Centre did not deploy CISF personnel, Tamil Nadu police would be stationed to guard the dam.
She said the vertical holes were drilled as part of the core stability test ordered by Supreme Court appointed Empowered Committee headed by justice AS Anand to study the safety aspects of the century-old dam, over which Tamil Nadu and Kerala are locked in a dispute.
It was necessary to fill the holes before the onset of the monsoon so as to prevent any damage to the dam, located in Idduki district of Kerala but under the control of Tamil Nadu.
However, the Kerala government had been preventing Tamil Nadu officials from closing these drilled holes, in spite of the clear directions given by the Empowered Committee and the matter was taken up by her government with the neighbouring state but to no avail, she said.